Yanme'e (Earth-5875)
The yanme'e (Latin Turpis rex, meaning "dishonorable king"), known to humans as Buggers, are a sapient species of flight-capable, carnivorous insectoids native to Palamok. In 1544, the yanme'e became the seventh species to be converted and enslaved into the Covenant after years of resistance. Hive-minded and loyal to their Queens, the yanme'e mostly acted as engineers and repairers for the Covenant when a huragok was not present, although they were also heavily used as flying attackers, who, in swarms, were easily able to overwhelm and slaughter their enemies, something which the Covenant used for their advantage against humanity during the First Contact War. History The Ark and reseeding Yanme'e evolved from winged tree-dwelling arthropods on Palamok. These arthropods developed motor skills in complexity, which allowed them to generate an appendage of chitin that functioned as an opposable thumb. During the Forerunner-Xenomorph War, the Librarian visited Palamok as a part of the Conservation Measure to save yanme'e specimens and index them in the Ark so they could survive the activation of the Halo Array. After the rings were lighted and all life extinct, the yanme'e, alongside all remaining living species in the galaxy, were returned to their homeworld through Keyships, where they started rebuilding their culture and civilization. Covenant For the next thousands of years, the yanme'e were able to become a Tier 4 species after developing space-faring technology. They would have their first contact with an intelligent alien species in 1544, finding the religious alliance known as the Covenant, which was searching for forerunner artifacts. The first contact was hostile, and the yanme'e resisted the alien intruders on their planets, leading to heavy casualties on both sides; while the Covenant was much superior in technology and discipline, the sheer number of yanme'e combatants proved too much. The Covenant was unwilling to glass Palamok, as they suspected the many hives on the planet were secret homes to forerunner technology. The san'shyuum were then able to discover an effective method of communication with the yanme'e, and after an alliance with the many Queens who lived on the planet, the yanme'e were inducted into the Covenant and the conflict between the two sides ended. When the Covenant explored Palamok they found no forerunner artifacts or relics. Duo to the Workers' innate talent of repairing, they were used by the Covenant as mechanics and engineers when a huragok was not present, while Drones and Warriors were taken as soldiers for the Covenant Armada. A council of yanme'e Queens was also formed to conscript their offspring into the Covenant. First Contact War The yanme'e were one of the first Covenant species to make contact with humanity on the colony Shanxi, on February 3rd, 2525, being first identified by the UNSC during the siege of Wengchang, one of the planet's settlements. After the Hierarchs declared war against the humans, yanme'e would be used as one of the most common soldiers against the UNSC, participating in many of the battles of the First Contact War, such as the Fall of Reach, and the Battle of Installation 04. At the Battle of Earth, yanme'e soldiers were sent to board Earth's ODPs, and also participated during the Battle of Mombasa, where the yanme'e left behind by the [[Solemn Penance (Earth-5875)|''Solemn Penance ]] established a massive hive system within the New Mombasa Data Center. During the Great Schism, most yanme'e sided with the san'shyuum and the jiralhanae, although more out of familiarity rather than loyalty. Many fought during the late stages of the Battle of Earth and the decisive Battle of Installation 00. Post-First Contact War After the end of the First Contact War, most yanme'e happily returned to the Napret system. Many yanme'e composed the ranks of Merg Vol's Blood Covenant, battling during the Battle of Draetheus V, while many served the Enclave under the rule of Jul 'Mdama. The UNSC mostly kept the policy "don't poke the nest" to the yanme'e, focusing on immediate splinter factions of the Covenant. This policy worked, although sometimes there were exceptions. Biology Anatomy and physiology caste.]] Yanme'e height average from 5' 8" (177 cms) to 6' 7" (205 cms), while their weight varies from 169 lbs (77 kgs) to 279 lbs (127 kgs). They share multiple traits analogous to Earth's beetles and other colonial insects, such as ants and termites. Yanme'e are bipedal arthropods, possessing a hard exoskeleton from a glossy chitinous substance that envolops their bodies, alongside two pairs of medium-sized wings. All of these adaptions are a result to the high gravity of Palamok, the yanme'e homeworld. Their thick shells grant them the ability of withstanding huge falls, while the atmosphere of Palamok allows the yanme'e to achieve fluttering leaps that come close to short flying bursts. In environments with lower gravity, the yanme'e can actually aerial maneuvering, although the heavy weight of their exoskeletons prevented them from fully achieving flight. Once they were discovered by the Covenant and incorporated as one of its species, the Covenant used of the yanme'e's natural ability to extend their flight capabilities with gravity-dampering modules cybernetically installed on their wings. These modules allowed the yanme'e to freefly fly to whenever position they desired, which proved to be impressive on occasions and places with lower gravity compared to Palamok. Despite their fragile appearance, yanme'e are very strong, capable of carrying an adult human male to massive distances. guarding a position at the New Mombasa Data Center.]] Differently from Earth's insects, which have three segments in their bodies, yanme'e possess five; a head, a cephalothorax, a thorax, a pelvis, and an abdomen. Their curved heads are home to a pair of sensory antennae with feather-like features, as well as four large bulbous and luminous eyes, granting them advanced sight. Their mouths have four mandibles that enable them to eat and swallow. They have three dextrous fingers and an opposable thumb, allowing them to wield the Covenant's many weapons, such as Type-25 plasma pistols and Type-33 Needlers. They are polydextrous, and as such, are capable of operating a wide number of tools with both of their hands and feet. Their legs are tetradactyly, and are attached to the rest of their bodies in a structure similar to a pelvis, while the smaller pair is located in their adbomen. Despite using their primary limbs for their operations, yanme'e also use their second set of limbs to engineer, grasp their enemies, latch onto walls and ceilings, manipulate weapons, and hang down in vertical position when sleeping. Yanme'e have razor-sharp claws on their limbs, which serve as natural weapons, although they prefer to avoid direct confrontation with enemies. Yanme'e are carnivorous, and they are known to feast upon human victims during the First Contact War. The species develop and breed living animals to serve as food. There is no sexual dimorphism between male and female to yanme'e to the human eye. The yanme'e exoskeleton is bright, and is found in multiple different colors. These colors represent their designated function and caste. Pupae and adolescents have yellow and orange hues, while as they grow older these colors will change depending on their social position. Their life cycle is mysterious and poorly understood, even to the other species of the Covenant, and virtually nothing is known other than the fact their Queens can lay eggs. Much like Earth's insects and arthropods, yanme'e undergo a metamorphosis in their life cycle. Intelligence Yanme'e are an eusocial species, and despite their sapient, their nature as a hivemind only allows their intelligence to go as far as their intended goals to work in large groups and for their Queens and hives. They have a deep and ingrained knowledge over machinery and engineering that is only lower than that of the huragok, being able to achieve tasks when working in massive swarms. Their hive society make them lack individuality and encorages the supress of creativity, emotion and total obedience to authority figures. While they do not feel fear, they can feel pain and jealously, as evidenced by a yanme'e swarm that killed the huragok Lighter Than Some after it took their role as technician aboard the [[CRS-class light cruiser (Earth-5875)|''CRS-class light cruiser]] Rapid Conversion. ''Much like the xenomorphs and their hive mind behavior, individual yanme'e are still incredibly intelligent of their own, and one ancient yanme'e, Tek'ch, was able to built the designs of the [[SDV-class heavy corvette (Earth-5875)|''SDV-class heavy corvette]] alongside his sangheili masters. Yanme'e that are unable to function alongside their hive and fellow yanme'e develop a mental personality disorder. Known as Unmutuals, these yanme'e can think independently from their Queens, allowing them to tactically plan, manipulate and analyze situations, which also give them violent and aggressive behavior. The yanme'e Hopalong was able to manipulate a UNSC translation software in order to freely translate his language to English in rapid sucession. Society and culture .]]As an eusocial species, the entire yanme'e society is based on an oppressive matriarchy, where the reproductive Queens reign their hives, while reproductive male Drones, Warriors and non-reproductive Workers act as their defenders and soldiers in battle. These castes are not specific to genders, however, and they merely encompass the majority of a gender distribution. Duo to their extreme dogmatic and hive-minded nature, they were easily incorporated into the hierarchy of the Covenant. The Queen is seen as the ultimate beginning and end for the yanme'e, which can also be attributed to their progress and advancements through the ages, including scientific and technological breakthroughts, most of which have been aimed for the improvement of their Queens and hives. Yanme'e were blind followers of their Covenant commanders, with little concern for morality. Despite this, their species held little concept of religion and so were not zealous followers of the Path. Much like the mgalekgolo and the huragok, the very nature of the yanme'e made it incredibly difficult for them to communicate with the other species of the Covenant, which did not properly understand their language even by 2552 outside the use of acute translation software. They saw the san'shyuum and the Hierarchs as their "queens", a remnant of their eusocial hive societies. Yanme'e only interacted with the other species of the Covenant to trade resources and to serve within the Armada as cannon fodder and mechanics, repairing systems and damages on warships. Their engineering knowledge, while advanced, was nowhere near as deep as that of the huragok, which created a one-sided feud between the two species. Jealous yanme'e Workers were responsible for killing the huragok Lighter Than Some aboard the ''CRS''-class light cruiser Rapid Conversion after it took over their former roles. Role within the Covenant battling multiple yanme'e at Voi.]] The yanme'e were converted into the Covenant as laborers and mechanics in 1544, being used in the absence of huragok in ships; although not quite as skilled as the huragok, their proficiency with machinery made them important assets for the general maintenance of systems. As years passed, they were eventually used within the Covenant Armada by the sangheili as soldiers in swarm tactics duo to their flight capabilities. During the First Contact War, the yanme'e were used in large numbers, much like the unggoy, as well as for surprise aerial ambushes against UNSC Marines, who were inexperienced in combating close air infantry, catching them off-guard and diverting their attention long enough by sacrificing themselves so that their Covenant allies would take down the humans. Duo to their physiology and psychology, yanme'e were also used for infiltration and espionage roles. Agile and fast, they are capable of using most of the Covenant's light weapons, including Type-25 plasma pistols, Type-33 Needlers, and even Type-25 plasma pistols, while their dexterity granted them the ability to competently aim at their enemes during flight or the crawling over structures. During missions, yanme'e became territorial and often established their own settlements in territories they took over, such as was the case during the Fall of Reach and the Battle of Earth, making them dangerous duo to a seemingly limitless supply of yanme'e troops. While the yanme'e respected the religious principles of the Covenant and blindly obeyed their sangheili and san'shyuum leaders, they held no faith in the Path, or even desire to follow the social values of the empire. The yanme'e were low-ranking in the hierarchy of the Covenant, and were led by sangheili, jiralhanae and kig-yar in the battlefield. Like most other species, they were not represented in the Covenant High Council. Hives .]] Yanme'e are known to form massive hives in a fast rate upon any territory that they can moister after an engagement. During the Battle of Mombasa, at the Battle of Earth, the yanme'e established a massive and vast hive within the New Mombasa Data Center in a matter of hours. Their hives are made out of mud, wood, and many cellulose materials, which are then mixed with the excretions of the yanme'e, forming large stalactitie-shaped cones to house the Queen and the yanme'e that protecth her. With enough material, the yanme'e can construct their hives in virtually any location, although they prefer to keep them in underground locations, caves, or jungle canopies, the latter which heavily resemble the hives found on the surface of Palamok. The yanme'e also built many hives within Ka'amoti and Oquiu, two of Palamok's moons. The hives radiate heat through their surroundings through its vent-like openings, helping to elevate the temperature to accomodate its Queen. During the existence of the Covenant, the empire deployed yanme'e to worlds for them to create temporary makeshift hives so that the Covenant warriors would access the territory and easily outmatch the enemy. Verge, Reach, and Earth are notable sites used by the yanme'e for the creation of hives during the First Contact War. Even after the end of the war, many human colonies are still home to yanme'e hives, which the UNSC has not bothered to investigate out of fear of provoking a massive yanme'e attack and their severely diminished technology in the post-war galaxy. Castes Queen Queens are the central figure within a hive and yanme'e society, whose main role is the propagation of the yanme'e species. They serve as the leaders of the yanme'e as a whole, leading the species in an aggressive matriarchy, while the other castes serve them by protecting or carrying out operations for their own Queens in preservation of the hive, leading to many civil wars against other hives. Duo to their role in procreating and birthing other yanme'e, the protection of a Queen is held in utmost importance. Queens are much larger than the other castes, having a massive egg sac and thick legs. Within the Queen caste there are several hierarchies, with higher queens and subordinate queens. Warrior .]] Warriors are the highest caste after a Queen, born solely for protection of their Queens and commanding other castes to fight. This was reflected with their induction into the Covenant, commanding small lances. Warriors are distinguished by their cyan and blue exoskeletons, as well as a large, horn-like structure at the top of their heads, and cephalothoraxes. They are armed with Type-25 Brute plasma rifles. They are equipped with a standard anti-gravity wing technology used on other yanme'e, enabling them to freely fly to wherever they desire. Drones Drones are an important caste in yanme'e society, responsible for hive defense and working in conjunction with Warriors. Drones are different from the other low castes duo to their crimson-skinned exoskeleton and shells. Their wings are longer than that of Workers, enabling them to fly faster. Drones attain their caste with age and experience, typically at 40 years old, and lead less experienced yanme'e, as opposed to other species who attain their ranks out of bravery. Drones are equipped with a standard anti-gravity wing technology used on other yanme'e, enabling them to freely fly to wherever they desire. Their weapons consist of Type-25 plasma pistols and Type-33 Needlers. Workers Workers are the lowest caste in yanme'e society, and designed for Queens solely for labor and protection of hives. When the yanme'e were enslaved into the Covenant, Workers became engineers and manual laborers when a huragok was not present, and with time they were seen in widespread combat roles. Their rank equaled them to unggoy Minors and kig-yar Minors, being commanded by sangheili and jiralhanae, as well as kig-yar Majors and yanme'e Drones. Language The Yanme'e language is a composed of numerous cacophonic high-pitched clicks, and whining, which is accentuated through the rubbing of their leaf-like wings when moving. They communicate with each other sonically, through a series of screeches and shrieks, as well as the release of pheromones. Individual yanme'e will usually select one of them to serve as a translator between the yanme'e and other species of the Covenant. Despite this, they still do not socialize with the other species, merely learning enough of them to keep informed and organized. The Office of Naval Intelligence had still not fully translated the yanme'e language by 2552, with the translation software of the UNSC only being able to imitating the clicks of a yanme'e, albeit poorly. Homeworld and colonies Palamok is the homeworld of the yanme'e, located in the Napret system. Similar to Earth, it has twice of its size and gravity (2.2 G). The planet is flat and mostly featureless geographycally, possessing little tectonic and volcanic activity. The high gravity of the planet developed the hard shells the yanme'e possess on their bodies, which help them absorb costly damage. While the yanme'e are only capable of limited, short flight on Palamok, they fare much better in 1.0 G environments. The planet has four natural satellites, Ka'amoti, Naxook, Oquiu, and Kami, two of which are colonies for the yanme'e. Category:Earth-5875 Category:Yanme'e of Earth-5875 Category:Sapient species of Earth-5875 Category:Species of Earth-5875 Category:Races Category:Species Category:Created by Draft227 Category:Covenant species (Earth-5875) Category:Host species (Earth-5875) Category:Arthropods (Earth-5875) Category:Flying species (Earth-5875)